10 Day Namibian Highlights Photographic Tour

This 10-day tour offers the best photo opportunities with a professional tour guide well aware of the importance of light and all of Namibia's incredible scenery. The subjects are varied, interesting and rewarding including spectacular landscapes, fascinating macros, sensual abstracts, full-frontal wildlife, cultural detail and much more.

The photographic tour offers specific shoots and our timetable revolves around the changing light conditions and spontaneous photo opportunities. But don't worry if you call yourself a happy-snapper it's still a great tour because you visit the highlights of Namibia in a fun and affordable package - and you'll get some great pictures to take home.This tour can also be done as a self-drive.

Itinerary

Day 1 - 2: Sossusvlei

Accommodation:
Sossus Dune Lodge

After breakfast, travel south to the Namib Desert for the next two nights. The vegetation changes from acacia savannah to desert shrub and then open landscapes, hills, and passes … changes as you head south-west. Stopping at scenic sites, giant sociable weaver nests, watch some wildlife like Chacma baboon, Springbok, Oryx and Ostrich make the drive part of the holiday. Namibia is a country where the journey is often more important and interesting than the actual destination. We will enter Sossusvlei before sunrise to arrive at the dunes with the clearest light and to beat the rush of people who enter an hour later. Dead pan is a photographer's dream with its flat floor of sheer white, gnarled petrified acacias and the towering red dunes behind. The deep blue sky and clear light are essential ingredients. The view from the top is also sensational - rewarding that hefty trek through the soft sand.

Day 3 - 4: Swakopmund

Accommodation:
Lagoon Loge Guest House

A five-hour drive north takes you through the gradual change from mountains and dunes to rolling grass-covered hills with scattered acacia trees. Swakopmund is a quaint resort town by the sea with an obvious German heritage. Look out for the endemic Hartmann's mountain zebra as you leave; stop at Solitaire, about 80km from Sesriem for some home-made bread and an ice cold drink; Kuiseb Canyon has some shady picnic spots; you can see springbok and pure-bred wild ostrich across the vast gravel plains of the Namib; the lunar landscape; look out for the welwitschia plant. Visit the Walvis Bay Lagoon where thousands of flamingoes, pelicans, and numerous waders feed in the nutrient-rich shallows; restaurants, shops, and attractions in Swakopmund; spend an extra day making the most of the cool air and refreshing sea. Among the many organized activities, we recommend a discovery of the living desert - take your macro lens; a scenic flight over Skeleton Coast; a comfortable and fascinating boat cruise of Walvis Bay harbor where you meet dolphins, sea lions, pelicans and terns; and paragliding or quad biking for an exciting dunes experience.

Day 5: Damaraland

Accommodation:
Camp Kipwe

Damaraland has picturesque granite outcrops; dolerite dykes that have been carved over aeons; rolling grass-covered hills; tree-studded riverbeds and endless open skies that make this area one of the most scenic regions of Namibia. The drive to Damaraland takes up to five hours because there is much to see and do along the way. The Skeleton Coast to Cape Cross has great photo opportunities, here is the largest breeding cape fur seal colony in the world; fascinating lichen fields and a salt pan that is an excellent birding spot; the Twfyelfontein rock paintings, the Petrified Forest and the Organ Pipes. Activities available are game drives on private reserves, explore the Twyfelfontein rock paintings, the Petrified Forest, Vingerklip and the Organ Pipes; hike up the Brandberg Mountain, Namibia's highest point at 2,573m.

Day 6: Damaraland

Accommodation:
Otjitotongwe Cheetah Farm

Today you will travel a short distance to Otjitotongwe Cheetah Farm, home to Save the Cheetah Project. Here you will have the chance to interact with and photograph cheetah, enjoy guided game drives as well as visit a Himba village for more excellent photo opportunities.

Day 7, 8 and 9: Etosha National Park

Accommodation:
Etosha Village

The southern gate of Etosha is much closer to southern Damaraland and will take about three hours; the eastern gate will take an extra two hour's travelling. Etosha has an estimated 250 lions, 300 rhinos, 2,500 giraffes, 6,000 zebras, 20,000 springbok and 2,000 elephants. This on top of a large number of lesser and common plains herds, and abundant birds makes game viewing in Etosha something special. The surrounding lodges all have private reserves with equally impressive wildlife numbers and they offer private game viewing activities into the park.

Day 10: Windhoek

You have a long drive to Windhoek today: up to six hours if you're travelling from the east and four from the south. The roads are all tarred so it's a comfortable ride to arrive in time for your onward flight or a night in Windhoek. Okahandja has the largest wood carvers' market in Namibia

Rates

10 Day Namibian Highlights Photographic Tour

Unit sleeps: 2

Includes:9 nights accommodation; dinner and breakfast on most days; professional guide and safari vehicle; park entry fees and activities

Reviews

"Safari.com was incredible. We cannot say enough good things about their readiness to help and their professionalism."

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Elizabeth

"A very efficient and people friendly service overall They responded on a Sunday night which was very unexpected, but really greatly appreciated."

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Elizabeth

"You have been such a great help, I greatly appreciate all the work and guidance you have given me to make this a special trip."